Sitting back down, Sincir sighs.

  Why did she have to show up now, of all times?

  Eleanor smirks at him. “You might want to keep your midsection under the table for a while.”

  Sincir grimaces. “Aren’t you going out to help her?”

  After chugging from her mug of ale, Eleanor shrugs. “What for? She’ll not learn, no matter how many times she gets dumped.”

  He suspected as much, but…

  “Is it that frequent?”

  “Once every four months or so? Last time we talked, she mentioned marriage… I guess it wasn’t meant to be, this time, either.”

  In spite of himself, Sincir ughs. “Did I ever tell you your sarcasm is a thing of beauty?”

  “What can I say? It’s a gift… Why aren’t you going out there to help her?”

  “I would, if not for my throbbing fucking boner.”

  Feeling something soft dragged against his leg, Sincir shudders.

  “Stop,” he tells Eleanor, gring at her as he does so.

  She smiles. “What?”

  “Your foot. Stop dragging it-”

  He shudders again, causing Eleanor to smile some more.

  “Eleanor, I’ll need to get up so- Fuck! Stop that!”

  At this point, with sundown about to arrive, The Smiling Horse has more than it’s share of customers waiting to be served, and the pce is bustling with lively activity, ughter, and loud voices...

  In fact, Hanna is a bit te for her shift, which should’ve started twenty minutes ago or so now.

  “…Another caress, and I swear I’ll tickle you tonight until you wet your pants,” he threatens, which causes Eleanor to ugh as she finally pulls her foot away.

  Just in time, the barmaid in question strides in, tears streaming down her cheeks and a murderous look on her face as she heads through the tavern, quickly entering the kitchen and disappearing within.

  “We should go before she comes out to sever tables,” Sincir says, rising.

  “…Can I sit this one out?” Eleanor murmurs, looking utterly uninterested as she takes another chug of ale.

  “No, I need you to walk in front of me so I can hide my… How many of these have you had, anyway? You know I’m not paying for your side of the tab, right?”

  Eleanor freezes, mouth slightly opened as she stops her cup midair. Then, she shifts her gaze to meet his and smiles coyly. “…Blowjob?”

  “Fuck no. Now come, or we’ll miss our chance to bully her.”

  Pcing her cup down, Eleanor sighs.

  Without waiting for her to move, Sincir grabs her hand and pulls her in front of him, pushing her to walk toward the tavern’s counter in spite of the dirty look she throws him.

  “C’mon, stop acting up and move on your own!”

  “Stop pocking me with it…”

  “I’m not!”

  Eleanor is still ughing by the time they reach the counter, attracting Miguel’s gaze, and frown, toward them.

  “Sincir… And my best barmaid,” the man greets, sighing.

  “Ex,” Eleanor corrects nonchantly.

  He sighs again. “Damn it, you don’t have to remind me every time… Are you’re here for the drama queen, I take it?”

  Sincir smiles apologetically. “She looked upset. You mind if we go in?”

  Miguel shrugs. “While you’re at it, tell her another stunt like this and she is out of a job as well as a boyfriend.”

  Sincir chuckles. “I’ll pass her the message.”

  The Smiling Horse’s inwards is fairly spacious, and its kitchen is big enough to not feel cramped, even with the half a dozen or so employees walking throughout it. As Sincir enters with Eleanor, many of the aforementioned employees gnce toward the two of them, not seeming particurly surprised by their appearance.

  Their retionship with Hanna is known, and since they’ve been at the tavern for a while, after the entrance Hanna had, the others probably figured they’d come for her... Though the real reason they’re is different, of course.

  “She is in the back, changing,” says Marge, a plump woman in her fifties, once she spots them. She happens to be the kitchen’s main cook, and the de facto tavern’s second in command after Miguel.

  “Crying, you mean,” one of the barmaid’s interjects, rolling her eyes as she picks up a tray and smiles toward Eleanor, “Hi, El, you doing well?”

  From the look on her face, Sincir can tell Eleanor is struggling not to correct the barmaid’s use of her name, but in the end she simply nods.

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “Try to add some sense into her head, please? If she keeps this up, Miguel might throw her out for real.”

  Having said as much, the barmaid heads out with her tray, leaving the others to greet Eleanor, which they do while immediately pushing her to walk further in, disregarding her grimacing expression...

  Watching the scene with a shake of head, Sincir simply chuckles.

  Mercifully, the barmaids don’t actually follow them in, having their jobs to take into account, and so Eleanor and him end up alone in front of the closed door leading to the small changing room used by the tavern’s employees.

  Before they go in, Eleanor raises an eyebrow at him.

  Sincir grimaces. “Don’t look at me like this; You guys are the ones who are supposed to be her friends. I had no idea it was this bad.”

  Eleanor seems to consider something, then nods toward the closed door in front of her. “Could you help her? If you wanted to, that is.”

  Sincir blinks. “Maybe? That depends on her. No matter what I say, if she isn’t willing to listen, then…”

  Eleanor smiles. “Isn’t that where the bullying comes in?”

  He sighs. “Right you are. Want to make the honors, or should I?”

  “Wait.” As he is about to go in, Eleanor grabs his arm, stopping him and meeting his gaze again. “Remember when I said I never fucked any of them...? I lied.”

  Sincir blinks again. “Really? But Hanna is… Wait, did you fuck her because she is Ena’s friend?”

  Eleanor averts her gaze from his, ughing humorlessly as she does so. “You’re making it sound a lot more calcuting than it was. I was just too horny at the time to think straight, and we were having a girls’ night… Ena sleeps like a stone.”

  “Oh, I remember that... I never knew why you guys stopped having them. Well, was it good, at least?”

  Eleanor grimaces. “What do you think? She is not gay, and I’m not a piece of shit pyboy whose cock she can worship…”

  Sincir throws her a l sympathetic look. “That is a lot of bitterness right there. It must’ve been some night, huh? Sorry.”

  Eleanor rolls her eyes. “Oh, shove it… What I’m trying to say is that I know Hanna, and since I’m already here, I might as well return her the favor for what happened.”

  “You’re asking me for permission to bully her,” he summarizes.

  Eleanor grins. “I have only the best of intentions at heart. I’ll py the bad guy, so you can come in as her shinning white knight and save the day…”

  Sincir shrugs. “I’m curious to see what you’re pnning, but I can’t promise anything about the white knight stuff… I’ve never been good at pying the part.”

  “Just do the usual,” Eleanor says.

  Sincir raises an eyebrow. “The usual?”

  She sighs. “Shameless pyboy half-smile. Dirty look. Dejected pup eyes whenever things don’t go your way… You could probably do it in your sleep.”

  She is right, he could, but that doesn’t mean… Ah, who he is trying to kid?

  Sincir sighs. “Fine. Don’t go too far, okay? And whatever happens-”

  “Ena doesn’t need to know what mom and dad get to when she is not around.”

  “…Ugh. Can you not?”

  “What?”

  Sincir sighs again. “Forget it; We’re wasting time.”

  Eleanor shrugs. “Ready?”

  Sincir gestures toward the door. “Whenever you are,” he retorts.

  Stepping forward with a roll of eyes, Eleanor takes a deep breath, then sets her expression to a fixed, slightly condescending smile before turning the handle, opening the door, and walking in.

  “…E-Eleanor?” Sincir hears, half a beat ter, in what he recognizes as Hanna’s voice, “Wait, can you close the door? I’m not-”

  Unfortunately, Sincir is already past the door-frame by the point Hanna finishes her request, which has so both of them freeze, gaze’s locked against the other’s.

  It seems Hanna end up stopping in the middle of her change of clothing for a crying session… Fortunately, she still has her top and panties on; Unfortunately, her panties are see-through, and since her knees are raised against her chest…

  Smiling apologetically, Sincir quickly turns around, clearing his throat. “...Sorry. I should’ve known better than to walk in like this...”

  Eleanor snorts. “You heard her; Close the door, idiot.”

  Sincir curses under his breath. Did she know this would happen? At the very least, she should’ve had time to warn him, since she walked in first…

  “W-what is going on? Not that I’m not happy to see you guys, but…” Hanna says as Sincir walks back and closes the door, leaving the three of them inside the small changing room.

  “What does it look like? This is an intervention,” Eleanor says, her voice matter-of-fact like.

  When Sincir turns toward the girls again, Hanna has her knees down and her skirt against her p, staring in between the two of them in confusion, while Eleanor stands next to her with her arms crossed and an expression of bare amusement on her face.

  “As much as I’d like to see just how low you’ll sink before you put your shit together, knowing there is a good chance you’ll drag Ena with you does make it hard to ignore… And so, here we are,” Eleanor adds.

  Hanna blinks. “S-sorry, but my shift started like thirty minutes ago… Can we keep this talk for another-”

  “Sit,” Eleanor orders, coldly and sharply enough to have the other girl flinch.

  Stared at by Eleanor’s cold eyes, who is no longer smiling, Hanna bites her lower lip. “I… I’d never hurt Ena… We talked about this st time…”

  Upturning her lips to form something which could hardly be called a smile, Eleanor throws Sincir a look as she expins, “Three or so exs ago, the idiot over here thought it’d be a good idea to date one of the local pimps; Not only that, but she introduced Ena to him.”

  “I didn’t know he was a pimp when we started going out! And I only introduced Ena because we were on a date and she happened to see us together…!”

  As Eleanor stares down at her, Hanna’s voice gradually dies down.

  “And those are the only reasons your teeth and facial bones are still intact,” Eleanor says, causing Hanna to swallow.

  “Wait, Eleanor-” Sincir tries to interject, only to have so she throws him a warning look, silencing his protests.

  “Anyway, Miguel wanted us to tell you you’re fired,” Eleanor says, turning toward Hanna once more and smiling lightly at her.

  Hanna pales.

  “No, wait, didn’t we manage to convince him to give her another chance?!” he butts in.

  Partially uncrossing her arms, Eleanor throws her nails a measuring look. “Did we?” she asks, making an obvious show of demonstrating her disinterest.

  Sincir smiles, slightly awkwardly, toward a still pale Hanna. “Don’t worry, you’re not out of a job yet…”

  “…L-look, I really think I should get out there and start my shift…”

  Eleanor snorts. “A bit te to care about arriving on time, isn’t it?”

  Sincir sighs. “Eleanor, why don’t you watch the door while I talk with Hanna?”

  This time, once she throws him a dirty look, he calmly sustains her gaze, nodding toward the door.

  Eleanor throws her hands up, as though giving up, and shakes her head; But she does so while walking away from Hanna.

  “Good job,” Sincir murmurs under his breath as she walks by him, to which she smiles lightly.

  As Eleanor leans against the door with her arms crossed and a freezing cold look on her face, he walks up to Hanna, who now has her gaze downcast and fists clenched against her skirt.

  Sitting next to her, he smiles apologetically while meeting her sidelong gnce. “Hey… Nice panties, by the way. Do you always wear them to work?”

  In spite of her teary eyes, Hanna smiles. “Yeah, right… The first time one of those drunken idiots flipped my skirt, Miguel would have me fired on the spot.”

  “…They were for your boyfriend, then.”

  Looking as though she is about to start crying again, Hanna slowly nods, averting her gaze from his. “Ex.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It was supposed to be a surprise… Instead, I caught him in bed with his ex-wife,” she murmurs, sniffing as she angrily wipes her face, “I’m such an idiot…! I really thought he was the one, that this time, I hadn’t chosen poorly…!”

  “Well-”

  “I hate men so fucking much…!”

  Sincir clears his throat. “Why don’t you tell me what you think the problem is?”

  “I don’t have a problem,” Hanna murmurs, “They are the ones who-”

  Eleanor snorts, loudly enough to be heard across the small room.

  Under her gaze, Hanna clears her throat. “O-okay, maybe I… Maybe I tend to like a certain type of men, and… And that type of men tends to…”

  “Turn out to be assholes?”

  As Hanna sniffs again and looks at him, Sincir smiles at her.

  “You know, identifying a problem is the first step to fixing it… There is no shame in admitting you’re not perfect.”

  It takes a moment, but Hanna does return his smile. “I think I might be a bit too far away from perfect at the moment.”

  “All the more room for improvement, then.”

  Hanna sighs. “I… I guess you’re right... Thank you, Sin.”

  “Why don’t you tell me about these men, and what you think they might have in common?”

  “I…” Hanna starts, blushing slightly as she once more averts her gaze from his, “Talking to you about this is kind of embarrassing, actually…”

  “I could swap with Eleanor-”

  “N-no! This is fine, I just need to put my thoughts together for a sec…”

  After a moment, Hanna sighs again.

  “I suppose they do have certain things in common… I wouldn’t have been attracted to all of them if they didn’t. Their confidence, for once… Money…”

  “Acting like they don’t care?”

  Hanna throws him a look. “W-what?”

  “Do they tend to act like they don’t care when they are around you? Like it’s no big deal to have you sitting on their p?”

  She blinks. “Y-yes? Now that I think about it, it does attract me when a guy acts like I’m his girl and the world will just have to learn to deal with it…”

  Sincir sighs. “Hanna, did it ever occur to you they might not be pretending?”

  “W-what?”

  “Let me ask this in a different way. You mentioned money… Are these men people you wouldn’t usually see dating a barmaid?”

  Hanna frowns. “What do you mean?”

  Sustaining her gaze firmly, Sincir asks again, “Are these men of higher social status than you?”

  “…In a way?”

  He sighs. “Hanna… When they are interacting with you, where do you think they confidence stems from?”

  Hanna bites her lower lip. “I…”

  “Say, if you were a man who had money, and easy access to women, would you seek to date a barmaid who has had multiple failed retionships before?”

  Hanna pales.

  “Look, I’m not saying this to hurt your self-confidence, but having a realistic view of your own position in life will help you avoid getting in trouble in the future...”

  After a moment of silence, Hanna licks her lips and shakes her head. “Wait, you’re saying… You’re telling me I’m shooting too high?”

  Sincir scratches his head. “Not really… This is about a specific type of men, remember? They are the ones looking for girls like you to py around with, and so they know exactly how things are going to turn out, but they still do it, because they’re after sex… Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

  Hanna seems to hesitate. “They… From the beginning, they never cared for I think or feel, did they? That’s why they are able to act so confident around me… For them, it’s just a game about saying the right words and doing the right thin,g so I’ll open my legs… They never cared about me to begin with me.”

  Sincir nods. “I know you thought that was just their though guy exterior, and that deep down, they still cared about you… Or maybe you thought that with time, you could make them care. And so, you worked hard to yearn their attention, their approval… Their love.”

  “Please stop… I understand it already,” Hanna murmurs, ughing humorlessly as she does so, the pain in her voice bare, “Gods, I’m such an idiot… I bet they must have had the time of their lives, wrapping me around their finger...!”

  “I doubt it was that malicious,” Sincir corrects, “For them, you’re the one responsible for your own choices, and they’ll just move on once the inevitable break up happens… No ughing manically in a dark room; Just forgetting it ever happened, then looking for the next girl to py around with.”

  Sniffing loudly, Hanna wipes her face, ughing again. “I’ve always wondered how they could act as thought nothing ever happened, whenever we met… Do they even see me as human? Am I just an object to them?”

  Sincir shrugs. “I’m sorry, but as much as I won’t deny they’re assholes, I’m pretty sure they still see you as human… It just so happens that you have something they want, and that they’re willing to go through great lengths to acquire… For them, not caring about your feelings is a necessary step, and most likely something they do unconsciously… Did you really date a pimp?”

  Pressing her face against her hands, Hanna groans... Then, a moment ter, she throws him a measuring sidelong look. “You know a lot about these things for a kid, Sin.”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “I’m not a kid… And you could say I have a good deal of experience in dealing with people.” Also, Varzath was one of those guys, for most of his life.

  “Fine, I know when to take a hint…”

  “Are you feeling better now?”

  “I thought this was about making me smarter?”

  “Well, did it work?”

  Hanna snorts. “Maybe. I’m just… How can I tell if a guy is just after my body?”

  Sincir considers it.

  “…If you’re attracted to them, then there is a good chance they’re trouble.”

  Hanna grimaces. “You do realize that doesn’t actually help me, right?”

  Sincir smiles at her. “For now, why don’t you go after guys around your own age, or at least someone on the quieter side of things? I’m not saying you should look for the stuttering type, but I know you can tell what type of guys you’re supposed to stay away from… You just need to learn to resist the temptation.”

  She averts her gaze, sighing as she does so. “A-actually, Sin, there is something I wanted to tell you…”

  “Yes?”

  “I… For a while now, I have…”

  “…Yes?”

  Suddenly, Hanna turns and gres at him, cheeks reddened. “Damn you; Eleanor told me you one hundred percent already knows about it, so why are you making it so hard for me to do this?”

  Sincir smiles at her. “By this, you mean…?”

  After a moment of sustaining his gaze, Hanna sighs. “You’re impossible... Well, I have to start my shift now, and think of a way to have Miguel not scream my ears off once it is over, so…”

  Sincir nods. “There’s just one more thing I wanted to talk with you about.”

  Hanna throws him a curious look. “Yes?”

  He smiles. “Ena has been saying some things tely… You wouldn’t know something about that, would you?”

  Hanna ughs. “Things? You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, Sin.”

  “Things about men, and about how I interact with women.”

  Hanna blinks, then moves her gaze away from his, nervously licks her lips. “No? I might have vented to her, but I didn’t think… Has she been…?”

  “She has been judging me a bit more harshly than I find fair... Did you two ever talk about me before, per chance?”

  Hanna throws him a quick gnce, before looking away once more and shrugging. “I guess we did, sometimes? She worries about how you see her, and I…”

  “I see her as my cute little sister. How else?”

  “Is… Is that so? Isn’t she the older one...?”

  Hanna ughs, sounding somewhat awkward this time… Once Sincir continues to stare at her, she fidgets in pce.

  “It’s just… I worry that she’ll end up like me, so I warned her about men…”

  “Did you warned her about me, in specific?” Sincir asks, his tone neutral.

  “N-no, why would I-”

  Sincir leans closer, carefully moving her hair aside as he meets Hanna’s gaze and asks, this time through a whisper, “Were you afraid she was going to take me before you could, Hanna?”

  Hanna freezes, her breath seeming to have been caught in her throat.

  “Hanna… Did you try to take my little sister from me?”

  Hanna swallows, opens her mouths, then closes it again.

  “Tell me exactly what you’ve told her,” he orders, his tone leaving no room for rebut.

  “I… I told her you… You acted like some of the men I’ve been with… Confident, uncaring… That you’d break a lot of hearts in the future,” Hanna whispers, “I swear, I didn’t mean t-to… To have her h-hate you…”

  “But you wanted to make sure she wouldn’t fall for me.”

  Hanna pales.

  Having had his suspicions confirmed, Sincir smiles at her. “Hanna…”

  “S-Sin, w-wait... I’m sorry, please-”

  “You know... You’re wrong,” he whispers, interrupting her, “Comparing me to those men is like comparing a cat to a tiger; Honestly, it is insulting. If and when I decide to break a girl’s heart, it won’t take just a couple minutes of crying for her to fix it… It also won’t be an accident, or colteral damage. Do you understand me?”

  Hanna swallows.

  “I see you do. Now you are going to pretend this part of our talk never happened, finish changing, and return to your job, won’t you?”

  She immediately nods, causing Sincir to finally smile as he moves away and pats her head.

  “…Good girl.”